Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Prior to gaining international renown for his definitive biography of Che Guevara and first-hand reporting on the war in Iraq for the New Yorker, Jon Lee Anderson wrote Guerrillas, a pioneering account of five diverse insurgent movements around the world?the mujahedin of Afghanistan, the FMLN of El Salvador, the Karen of Burma, the Polisario of Western Sahara, and a group of young Palestinians fighting against Israel in the Gaza Strip. Making the most of unprecedented, direct access to his subjects, Anderson combines powerful, firsthand storytelling with balanced, penetrating analysis of each situation. A work of phenomenal range, analytical acuity, and human empathy, Guerrillas amply demonstrates why Jon Lee Anderson is one of our most important chroniclers of societies in crisis.

Review

A resourceful, even intrepid, piece of reportage... A book of unusual immediacy, one that has the unmistakable ring of authenticity. (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World)

A very good piece of battle reporting... especially vivid. (Washington Monthly)

Review

A very good piece of battle reporting... especially vivid. (Washington Monthly)

Synopsis

If, not long ago, the word guerrillas evoked images of idealists battling for justice, today the term is just as likely to call to mind less romantic notions of "sleeper cells" and "suicide bombers." Based on a decade of firsthand interviews, Jon Lee Anderson's Guerrillas takes us into the human culture of insurgency: from a sniper's lookout in the Western Saharan desert, home to the Polisario guerrillas, to a mujahideen "courtroom" in an Afghan battlefield; from the rubble-strewn streets of Gaza during the first intifada, to the Burmese jungle and the mountains of El Salvador. Now, with the lethal renewal of the Palestinian intifada, and as Afghanistan struggles with its warrior traditions following the bloody rise and fall of the Taliban, the voices recorded in Guerrillas have more than ever to tell us.

Synopsis

Based on a decade of interviews, "Guerrillas" takes readers into the human culture of insurgency. Now, with the lethal renewal of the Palestinian intifada, and as Afghanistan struggles with its warrior traditions following the bloody rise and fall of the Taliban, these voices have more than ever to tell.

About the Author

Jon Lee Anderson is the author of Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World; Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life; The Lion's Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan; and, with his brother Scott Anderson, War Zones and Inside the League. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker.